Just listened to a Podcast from SoloStream.com in which Michael Pollock interviewed Stephen Shapiro regarding his new book called Golf Free Living.

In the interview Shapiro touches on two topics that relate to sports performance.

In the first topic he mentions a former sports psychologist for the Boston Red Sox. His goal was to get the players into a frame of mind where they were not worrying about their individual statistics but rather how to stay in the moment. He also beleived that players can always learn something from their performance whether they won or lost the game. In a nutshell he was teaching players to play one pitch at a time whether on defence or offence.

In the second topic, Shapiro relates to his performance as a golfer. Like most he would focus on the fundementals for each shot. One day he decided that he would not worry about the fundementals and swing the club freely, just trying to get the ball to the target. The result: the best round of golf he had played. Many of us have read that the practice tee and green is where you practice the fundementals but on the golf course you just go and play and try and get the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes possible.

I was in a seminar once where Dr. Bob Rotella was speaking and he told a story of David Duval. David was frustrated. Any time he played in a Pro-Am prior to the weeks tournament he could determine in a heart beat which club he was going to use, the trajectory he wanted to hit the bal, the length of swing he was going to use. And 9 times out of ten he would hit the ball within 10 feet of the hole. In the tournament rounds for the same shot he would discuss with the caddy the exact distance, wind speed and direction, the grain on the green, should I hit the 7 iron or 8 iron, and the result was rarely the same. Dr. Bob Rotella told David why don’t you just play like you do in the practice round. He told David that for most shots he has practiced them many thousands of times before and to use his instincts when he is playing his tournament rounds. This allowed David to not only play in the moment but also freed up his swing and thought process to allow him attack the flag stick.